Countertransference and cognition: Studying the psychotherapist's distortions as consequences of normal information processing.

Abstract

This article reviews research linking countertransferential reactions to human information processing and offers suggestions for studying countertransference within an information-processing framework. Given the elusiveness of clinical phenomena and the difficulty of operationalizing key clinical concepts, information-processing studies of countertransference may provide a database from which other empirical approaches may be developed.'Twas the day before Christmas, and the young woman patient bounced cheerfully into her analyst's office, holding a gift-wrapped package in her hand and anticipating her analyst's pleasure and surprise. "Before we get started," she announced, "please accept my gift. I hope you like fruitcake."The analyst, after mumbling a reflexive "Thanks," ushered the patient to the couch while mentally allowing his "free-hovering" attention to explore the meaning and implications of the gift. In those days, "fruit" was a slang term for a homosexual and "fruitcake" was a slang term for a mentally ill patient. The analyst began at once to ask the patient for associations to the gift and only succeeded in deflating her mood as she repeated in a puzzled fashion, "It's just a fruitcake. I like to give fruitcakes for Christmas." Was the analyst's persistent questioning simply a regular expression of technical procedure designed to

The Self‐Care of Psychologists and Mental Health Professionals: A Review and Practitioner Guide

“…In addition to burnout and compassion fatigue mentioned above, countertransference is another factor that can debilitate mental health professionals, particularly when practitioners fail to recognise their own unresolved issues and avoid such feelings. This has most prominently been displayed in sexualised and hostile behaviours (Burwell‐Pender & Halinski, ), but surfaces in other domains as well (Singer, Sincoff, & Kolligian, ; Westra, Aviram, Connors, Kertes, & Ahmed, ).…”

Countertransference feelings in one year of individual therapy: An evaluation of the factor structure in the Feeling Word Checklist-58

“…Some give other names to the phenomenon that may be approximates of countertransference, such as Rudd and Joiner (1997) who prefer "therapeutic belief system", which is the schemas that are developed through one's personal history or as scripts, prototypes, irrational assumptions and automatic thoughts. Singer, Sincoff, & Kolligian (1989) states "schema represents the mechanisms underlying our hidden agendas that we all -patients and therapists bring to each life experience and situation". Also, Marsha Linehan, founder of dialectical behavior therapy (DBT), is concerned with what she has named "relationship acceptance" and experiences which may be seen as countertransferential: "many therapists are not prepared for the pain they will have to recognize in themselves while working with borderline patients, or the professional chance one must take, the personal doubts one must endure, and the traumatic moments that will come" (pp.…”

Therapist perspectives on countertransference: Qualitative data in search of a theory.

“…The clinical and empirical literature indicate that countertransference reactions can assume myriad forms, both internal and external. Internally, countertransference often manifests itself in three forms: anxiety (Cohen, 1952;Gelso et al, 1995;Sharkin & Gelso, 1993;Sullivan, 1954;Yulis & Kiesler, 1968), misperceptions of the frequency with which the client discussed certain topics (Cutler, 1958;Gelso et al, 1995;Hayes & Gelso, 1993;Singer, Sincoff, & Kolligan, 1989), and feelings of liking or antipathy for the client (Fiedler, 1951;McClure & Hodge, 1987). Behaviorally, countertransference may be displayed by withdrawing from or otherwise avoiding the client (Bandura, Lipsher, & Miller, 1960;Yulis & Kiesler, 1968), becoming overinvolved with the client , or exhibiting nonverbal behaviors that may be peripheral cues of countertransference (Sherman, 1965).…”